To the horror of a couple of my friends, I've gotten away so far with point and click by using blizzard's basic interface. But now I'm healing raids and heroics, and milliseconds actually do make a difference. I'm willing to dive into the confusing world of healing add-ons.
I've managed to get the curse.com installer running, so I think I'm over the hurdle of actually getting stuff ONTO my game, but I am adrift in a sea of possibilities here.
I am totally bewildered. SO many choices, and I am anything but computer-savvy. Healbot, Grid, Clique, Grid PLUS Clique, Deadly Boss Mods, Omen Threat Meter....omg, just thinking about it is giving me a headache.
Can anyone recommend an easy system with a clean interface that will allow me to heal more efficiently? One that doesn't require a degree in Computer Science to understand, install, and use?
What's working for you, priests?
Thanks so much.
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The easiest all-in-one solution is Healbot. Whether or not you want to give that much control to a single add-on is a matter of personal preference.
Another popular choice is Clique with whatever choice of unit frames, be that Grid or X-perl. It ends up working like Healbot, but with far more control.
Also, you could use mouseover macros. My personal choice along with x-perl for maximum control.
Decursive takes care of all your dispel/abolish needs, although the same functionality is or could be integrated in the solutions I mentioned above. I just like to have that part separate from everything else. Nothing is easier or faster than just left- or right-clicking on a red or blue square :)
Another popular choice is Clique with whatever choice of unit frames, be that Grid or X-perl. It ends up working like Healbot, but with far more control.
Also, you could use mouseover macros. My personal choice along with x-perl for maximum control.
Decursive takes care of all your dispel/abolish needs, although the same functionality is or could be integrated in the solutions I mentioned above. I just like to have that part separate from everything else. Nothing is easier or faster than just left- or right-clicking on a red or blue square :)
Kanngarnix wrote:
Also, you could use mouseover macros. My personal choice along with x-perl for maximum control.
I also use mouseover macros, although I use Pitbull for my frames. All my macros are bound to keys except two on mousewheel up and down, and all do double duty as heals for mousing over a friendly target's frame and offensive spells for mousing over a hostile. I'm much faster this way than I ever was with Healbot. Priests have a lot of spells in the ******* and while some people do great with Healbot or Clique, for me personally the mouse-combos to get them all in got too complicated. I like being able to just tap one key for what I want.
I use the same system for decursing since Pitbull will just light up the frame blue when dispel magic is needed and red if abolish disease is needed. I'm sure X-perl does something similar.
I never could get into Grid/Clique, but my understanding is that an advantage of Grid over other unit frames like Pitbull or X-perl is that it's more compact, giving you more screen space. My Pitbull raid frames are small (you can make them any size you want), but still big enough so I can read all the info on them, and they do take up a lot of real estate in a 25 man (40 is craziness). I'll admit that I've had my moments of standing in the ouch because I was too caught up in watching bars to watch everything else.
I think that's all I know. Healbot is definitely a good solid intro to healing add-ons, but I always recommend that people try a couple of different things and see what suits you best. Just because you know a great healer who swears by one thing doesn't mean you won't work faster with something else.
Edited typos
Edited, Mar 12th 2009 9:10am by teacake
I know that I sound like the slow kid in the back of the classroom...but what exactly do you mean when you say "mouseover macros"?
I am so new to this it makes me blush.
Thank you for the suggestions, just wanted to clarify the degree of nubishness here. ^^
I am so new to this it makes me blush.
Thank you for the suggestions, just wanted to clarify the degree of nubishness here. ^^
Pfff don't be silly. I had no clue til Mothra explained it to me right here. :)
A macro for one spell will look something like, say, this:
#showtooltip Greater Heal
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] Greater Heal
You make that macro (type /macro to get to your macro interface), throw it on your toolbar, and assign it to a key binding, say A. Then you hover your mouse pointer over your target's frame and hit A, and it casts Greater Heal on them. Blizz's default frame will work fine (heck you can even mouse over their body), but most people prefer a unit frames add-on so they can customize them to look however they want, be whatever size they want, and display whatever information they want.
The /stopcasting line there will interrupt any other cast you had going at the time you hit the macro. That was mainly useful when cancel-casting was the thing, but even now that that's going out of style I still like having it in there so if I change my mind I don't get that "another action is in progress" thing.
Most of my macros look like this:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, noharm, exists] Renew;[target=mouseover, harm, exists] Shadow Word:Pain
That one is bound to my mouse wheel up. It casts Renew on friendly targets and SW:P on hostile ones. If you set up something like this, you want to pick the question mark icon when you create the macro. It'll display the correct spell's icon and tooltip according to who you're hovering your mouse over.
I apologize if this was too detailed or basic an explanation and you already knew a lot of it, I just figured I'd get it all in there, because when I first heard people talking about this I really didn't have any idea what it meant and had never made a macro before. I'll take a ss of my interface next time I'm in Wintergrasp if you want so you can see the frames at their most cluttered.
Edited, Mar 12th 2009 9:31am by teacake
A macro for one spell will look something like, say, this:
#showtooltip Greater Heal
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] Greater Heal
You make that macro (type /macro to get to your macro interface), throw it on your toolbar, and assign it to a key binding, say A. Then you hover your mouse pointer over your target's frame and hit A, and it casts Greater Heal on them. Blizz's default frame will work fine (heck you can even mouse over their body), but most people prefer a unit frames add-on so they can customize them to look however they want, be whatever size they want, and display whatever information they want.
The /stopcasting line there will interrupt any other cast you had going at the time you hit the macro. That was mainly useful when cancel-casting was the thing, but even now that that's going out of style I still like having it in there so if I change my mind I don't get that "another action is in progress" thing.
Most of my macros look like this:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, noharm, exists] Renew;[target=mouseover, harm, exists] Shadow Word:Pain
That one is bound to my mouse wheel up. It casts Renew on friendly targets and SW:P on hostile ones. If you set up something like this, you want to pick the question mark icon when you create the macro. It'll display the correct spell's icon and tooltip according to who you're hovering your mouse over.
I apologize if this was too detailed or basic an explanation and you already knew a lot of it, I just figured I'd get it all in there, because when I first heard people talking about this I really didn't have any idea what it meant and had never made a macro before. I'll take a ss of my interface next time I'm in Wintergrasp if you want so you can see the frames at their most cluttered.
Edited, Mar 12th 2009 9:31am by teacake
I simply love Grid and the ability to set up the visual cues for buffs, debuffs and incoming heals. I have PW:S and Weakened Soul set up as different colored borders; It saves so much time when deciding what to cast, especially in a raid. It can be set up to hold a ton of info in a compact frame. The only thing Grid is missing is player targets. I used to not like this, but if they were included, I would never get to look around and see what's happening on the rest of the screen!
It took a bit of time for me to customize and learn the interface, mostly it was just wishing for and discovering something like- only icons for debuffs I could dispel/cleanse or the PW:S/Weakened Soul (de)buff (nothing confused me more than trying to cast PW:S on a target that another priest has already shielded!) After checking through the options, I found it to be quite friendly to customization.
Coupling Grid (or whichever unit frame you decide on) and mouseover macros can be quite rewarding. I still like to use the Blizz raid pullout frames for myself, MT and main assist.
It took a bit of time for me to customize and learn the interface, mostly it was just wishing for and discovering something like- only icons for debuffs I could dispel/cleanse or the PW:S/Weakened Soul (de)buff (nothing confused me more than trying to cast PW:S on a target that another priest has already shielded!) After checking through the options, I found it to be quite friendly to customization.
Coupling Grid (or whichever unit frame you decide on) and mouseover macros can be quite rewarding. I still like to use the Blizz raid pullout frames for myself, MT and main assist.
To help you further on your way; just download DeadlyBossMods and ignore it for the rest - it barely needs any fine tuning once installed, it'll just inform you of things you need to know.
Unless you regularly aggro (in which case your tank is probably doing something wrong), forget omen. You simply don't need it as a healer.
Also, what works best for me is Bartender for my spells and Pitbull for my unit frames; seeing as you're new to addons, this isn't something I'd recommend just yet though. Especially Pitbull can be extremely confusing to set up. Go with either mouse-over macro's and something like Healbot, Grid or Clique.
Unless you regularly aggro (in which case your tank is probably doing something wrong), forget omen. You simply don't need it as a healer.
Also, what works best for me is Bartender for my spells and Pitbull for my unit frames; seeing as you're new to addons, this isn't something I'd recommend just yet though. Especially Pitbull can be extremely confusing to set up. Go with either mouse-over macro's and something like Healbot, Grid or Clique.
I use grid. It is basically like a big rectangle filled with little rectangles (well like a grid really hence the name) I have it set up so I can read the full names of other toons on the top line at all times, underneath it then tells me if they are dead, feigning death or offline so I am not trying to heal someone who isn't there. My top left flashes red when a person has aggro, this helps heal dps in particular, the bottom left goes green if they have incoming heals and the middle flashes up anything I can dispell. You can also keep track of people's mana bars along the bottom so you can see if your other healers are OOM. I also have the settings so that if people are out of range for buffs/heals they go a different colour on the grid so I can easily tell if I'm going to miss anyone. I don't use anything else like clique etc as I use too many spells to be bothered with clicking to heal etc. I frequently use penance, PW:S, renew, flash heal, dispell magic and abolish disease as well as greater heal, pain suppression, fade, inner focus and power infusion. That's just too many things to remember combinations of click and shift/alt etc for, I think I would just get confused. I just have all my main things macroed to the number keys and I set up hot keys for extra spells using the f keys which are bound to spells along the bar above my main spellbar.
I also run omen but this is more so I can keep an eye on aggro stealing dps when we get new people in our guild coming on heroics/raids etc. You don't really need it as a healer and I often turn it off.
I used to run decursive but now I don't bother as I combined the alerts into grid.
I always run deadly boss mods. This is a brilliant add on and I'd advise ANYONE raiding to get it. In Naxx for example it will flash up a countdown to Heigen's teleport (sadly it doesn't tell you where to stand so as not to get dead during the dance but I live in hope lol) It also tells me when to expect the web spray and also who gets web wrapped on the big spider who's name I forget as well as giving a 3 second warning on when Loetheb's healing ban will be lifted. I find this information invaluable for helping with my timing.
The only other add ons I have are for soloing and questing like quest helper etc. I would say as a healer try out Healbot, Grid and Grid with Clique and see which you prefer. My hubby also heals and he used healbot for ages but kept getting frustrated, he said he didn't want grid as he wanted to be able to mouseclick heal his flash of light, holy light and holy shock to give him better reaction times. He combined grid with clique and found it perfect for him.
I also run omen but this is more so I can keep an eye on aggro stealing dps when we get new people in our guild coming on heroics/raids etc. You don't really need it as a healer and I often turn it off.
I used to run decursive but now I don't bother as I combined the alerts into grid.
I always run deadly boss mods. This is a brilliant add on and I'd advise ANYONE raiding to get it. In Naxx for example it will flash up a countdown to Heigen's teleport (sadly it doesn't tell you where to stand so as not to get dead during the dance but I live in hope lol) It also tells me when to expect the web spray and also who gets web wrapped on the big spider who's name I forget as well as giving a 3 second warning on when Loetheb's healing ban will be lifted. I find this information invaluable for helping with my timing.
The only other add ons I have are for soloing and questing like quest helper etc. I would say as a healer try out Healbot, Grid and Grid with Clique and see which you prefer. My hubby also heals and he used healbot for ages but kept getting frustrated, he said he didn't want grid as he wanted to be able to mouseclick heal his flash of light, holy light and holy shock to give him better reaction times. He combined grid with clique and found it perfect for him.
I use grid and love it. Once you become familiar with it, it is very powerful. I recommend wowmatrix for installing and updating your addons, and fubar for making grid configuration a simple right click away.
I've never really used clique or healbot, since my preference is to keybind and press a key after targeting with grid. However, the mouseover macro idea has appeal and I'm gonna give that a try with grid.
I've never really used clique or healbot, since my preference is to keybind and press a key after targeting with grid. However, the mouseover macro idea has appeal and I'm gonna give that a try with grid.
I'm also leaning towards mouseover macros. I use Grid for my unit frames and currently am using Clique. But I like the idea of rolling over a target, and pressing a keybind instead of a click sequence. Don't get me wrong, Clique is great, especially if you have a huge mouse with alot of buttons that you're comfortable using. But I don't like relying on the scroll wheel, I never bind spells to it (especially the clickable scroll wheels).
So I'm basically limitted to right click, left click, then SHIFT/ALT/CTRL modifiers. Basically 8 spells, and that includes targetting a unit. I think mouseover macros seem the way to go for me. As far as unit frames, I love Grid, but maybe one day I'll try Pitbull again.
This is from a pally perspective, but I'm thinking ahead to when my priest hits 80. I also used Grid in TBC on my druid, it hasn't changed much. Compact, flexible and shows a large amount of information.
So I'm basically limitted to right click, left click, then SHIFT/ALT/CTRL modifiers. Basically 8 spells, and that includes targetting a unit. I think mouseover macros seem the way to go for me. As far as unit frames, I love Grid, but maybe one day I'll try Pitbull again.
This is from a pally perspective, but I'm thinking ahead to when my priest hits 80. I also used Grid in TBC on my druid, it hasn't changed much. Compact, flexible and shows a large amount of information.
teacake wrote:
A macro for one spell will look something like, say, this:
#showtooltip Greater Heal
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] Greater Heal
#showtooltip Greater Heal
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] Greater Heal
Thank you for that. I'm creating my macros now. I added a second condition, so that if I'm not actually mousing over a raid frame, that I autocast on myself.
#showtooltip Renew
/stopcasting
/cast [target=mouseover, exists] [target=player] Renew
It works good with my grid, and it will be interesting to see if it is faster than mouseclicking to target.
Ok, tried mouseover macros in a raid. I can see they are quick and effective. One thing I like about healing though, is that we can each have a little different style and still do a good job.
For me, I target with the mouse by clicking my grid with the mouse in my right hand. Almost instantaneously with my left hand, I press a keybound heal. I'm happy with that.
When I changed to mouseover macros (same with healbot), It wasn't for me. I turn and move with the mouse, and like to be able to target and start moving if need be. I may cast renew, PW:shield, PoM on a target while my mouse is no longer hovering on his square, but involved in getting me out of the bad stuff.
The point of the story is that their are several styles and associated addons that help us heal. For those who are new, you may need to try a couple of things to find what is best for you.
For me, I target with the mouse by clicking my grid with the mouse in my right hand. Almost instantaneously with my left hand, I press a keybound heal. I'm happy with that.
When I changed to mouseover macros (same with healbot), It wasn't for me. I turn and move with the mouse, and like to be able to target and start moving if need be. I may cast renew, PW:shield, PoM on a target while my mouse is no longer hovering on his square, but involved in getting me out of the bad stuff.
The point of the story is that their are several styles and associated addons that help us heal. For those who are new, you may need to try a couple of things to find what is best for you.
2 posts
I use Benecaster myself... It's real useful, you decide what spells to associate to raid members, party members, yourself, and then all the spells show up in a line next to their party picture (or any raid names you pull outta the raid screen using Shift drag). Then it's just one button casting. It has made my life a million times easier since I got it!
The Honorable dadanox wrote:
I turn and move with the mouse, and like to be able to target and start moving if need be.
I agree that it's not going to be for everyone, not trying to sell anyone anything here, but just by way of FYI, I ended up binding a key to move forward, which I hit with my thumb and leave the other fingers free for my healing spells, so I can still turn with my mouse and use my mouseover macros at the same time. It sounds like it would be awkward but it's really not. I can run around and cast my instants with no problem at all this way.
I like using x-perl with the mouseover macros that many others have already mentioned. I made macros for flash heal, gheal, dispel, abolish disease, PW:S, and renew. I then keep the tank I am responsible for targetted for PoM and other skills that I dont feel like making a macro for :P
I tried pitbull and grid, but the layout of x-perl fits my needs better. It seems a lot more user friendly to me. :D
I tried pitbull and grid, but the layout of x-perl fits my needs better. It seems a lot more user friendly to me. :D
I'm an X-Perl user too, but I wouldn't call it user friendly, there are just far too many options.
What it does have is the ability to show practically everything you might need to know, and customise how it shows a fair amount, so you don't need as many addons. I've only combined it with Quartz for player/target casting bars because I needed them to be bigger than was possible when they're part of the frames (for pre-emptive heals, and the lag meter bit, that lets you start casting earlier).
One thing that's worrying me about the addon is the lack of recent updates. I'm hoping that X-Perl Classic will be able to cover if I ever have to change.
I'm also using Clique for click-casting, with bindings like this:
Mass Dispel may seem a bit odd to have targetted on a unit frame, but it's just a duplicate of Ctrl+Shift MB anywhere, so I can get the target up faster if the mouse is on the unit frames.
My little finger is always over Shift and Ctrl, and I also use bartender with a huge number of macros that use Shift+Ctrl modifiers, bound to a lot of keys and mouse buttons.
The rear button on the left side of my mouse is bound to PoH, CoH with Shift (with me as target, so I can run between melee/casters to use it on both groups), and Holy Nova with Ctrl.
The front left one is bound to Hymn of Hope and Inner Focus with shift, a mana trinket if I have one equipped with Ctrl.
The top front button is for spells targetted at myself. PW:S, Renew with shift, and Flash Heal with Ctrl.
The harder to reach top rear button is a macro for Desperate Prayer and Warlock Healthstones if I have them.
Front right side has offensive spells, Holy Fire/Smite/Mind Blast.
Rear Right is mounts.
Q is fade/threat trinket or cloak/Psychic scream.
E is wand (/castsequence reset=1 !shoot, null, with shift macroed to auto target totems)
R is SW:P/Devouring Plague/Mana Burn
F is Levitate/Levitate with me as target
T is Mind Control/Shadow Fiend/Mind Vision
G is Fear Ward/Shackle Undead
1 is Belf racial for mana
2 is healing pots (only with shift modifier, to keep from accidentaly using them)
3 is mana pots (ditto)
4 is drinks (3 different mana amounts, with the shift and ctrl mods increasing it, depending how much/how fast I need to regen, and how much I want to be spending to restock)
5 is self buffs
6 is rez.
7 and 8 are the whole group buffs
0 is /rw Mana Break!
I use WASD to move/strafe, mouse to look/turn, and Tab to target enemies (autorun is the ` key, below escape. Why Blizzard decided numlock was a good choice is beyond me. It's so far away from the other movement keys).
Yes, I am ambidextrous.
Keyboard turners/button casters may find all that a bit OTT, but I used to play the Battlefield 2 First Person Shooter as a medic, which is only slightly less complicated than healing as a priest in WoW, but relies even more on mobility and situational awareness to keep you alive while doing your job.
Edited, Mar 19th 2009 10:53am by polarityjp
Edited, Mar 19th 2009 10:54am by polarityjp
What it does have is the ability to show practically everything you might need to know, and customise how it shows a fair amount, so you don't need as many addons. I've only combined it with Quartz for player/target casting bars because I needed them to be bigger than was possible when they're part of the frames (for pre-emptive heals, and the lag meter bit, that lets you start casting earlier).
One thing that's worrying me about the addon is the lack of recent updates. I'm hoping that X-Perl Classic will be able to cover if I ever have to change.
I'm also using Clique for click-casting, with bindings like this:
| Left Button | Middle Button | Right Button |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Nomod | Greater Heal | PW:S | Renew |
| | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Shift | Flash Heal | Dispel | CoH |
| | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Ctrl | Binding Heal | Abolish Disease | ProM |
| | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Ctrl+Shift | PW:F | Mass Dispel | Shadow Protection |
| | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |
Alt | Target | Set Focus | Menu |
| | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------- Mass Dispel may seem a bit odd to have targetted on a unit frame, but it's just a duplicate of Ctrl+Shift MB anywhere, so I can get the target up faster if the mouse is on the unit frames.
My little finger is always over Shift and Ctrl, and I also use bartender with a huge number of macros that use Shift+Ctrl modifiers, bound to a lot of keys and mouse buttons.
The rear button on the left side of my mouse is bound to PoH, CoH with Shift (with me as target, so I can run between melee/casters to use it on both groups), and Holy Nova with Ctrl.
The front left one is bound to Hymn of Hope and Inner Focus with shift, a mana trinket if I have one equipped with Ctrl.
The top front button is for spells targetted at myself. PW:S, Renew with shift, and Flash Heal with Ctrl.
The harder to reach top rear button is a macro for Desperate Prayer and Warlock Healthstones if I have them.
Front right side has offensive spells, Holy Fire/Smite/Mind Blast.
Rear Right is mounts.
Q is fade/threat trinket or cloak/Psychic scream.
E is wand (/castsequence reset=1 !shoot, null, with shift macroed to auto target totems)
R is SW:P/Devouring Plague/Mana Burn
F is Levitate/Levitate with me as target
T is Mind Control/Shadow Fiend/Mind Vision
G is Fear Ward/Shackle Undead
1 is Belf racial for mana
2 is healing pots (only with shift modifier, to keep from accidentaly using them)
3 is mana pots (ditto)
4 is drinks (3 different mana amounts, with the shift and ctrl mods increasing it, depending how much/how fast I need to regen, and how much I want to be spending to restock)
5 is self buffs
6 is rez.
7 and 8 are the whole group buffs
0 is /rw Mana Break!
I use WASD to move/strafe, mouse to look/turn, and Tab to target enemies (autorun is the ` key, below escape. Why Blizzard decided numlock was a good choice is beyond me. It's so far away from the other movement keys).
Yes, I am ambidextrous.
Keyboard turners/button casters may find all that a bit OTT, but I used to play the Battlefield 2 First Person Shooter as a medic, which is only slightly less complicated than healing as a priest in WoW, but relies even more on mobility and situational awareness to keep you alive while doing your job.
Edited, Mar 19th 2009 10:53am by polarityjp
Edited, Mar 19th 2009 10:54am by polarityjp
Once again you forum priests shine!
I can't thank you enough for all this wonderful information. I'm going tot take some time today to try writing some mouseover macros. I'll likely come back on tomorrow with a whole new set of questions, but thank you all so much for helping me get over my frame-fright.
I can't thank you enough for all this wonderful information. I'm going tot take some time today to try writing some mouseover macros. I'll likely come back on tomorrow with a whole new set of questions, but thank you all so much for helping me get over my frame-fright.
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